Art of transmitting sounds by means of hertzian waves.



055-617 AU 233 Ex P1 8106 XR 1,118,004 I I a I X F 3 D I f Y \J u c 7 r j W m w. HARRISON.

4" 1 ART or TRANSMITTING SOUNDS BY mums or HERTZIAN wuss.

APPLICATIOK FILED MAR. 11. 1902.

1,118,004. Patentd N0v.24,191 L 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

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W. HARRISON. 13'! or 'ramsum'ma souuns m HEARS or na'rzmn wuss. APPLIOATIOI IILED IA]. 11. 1002.

1,118,004, Patented Now-24, 1914.

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IN VE/ITOH m: m m. ma. 1

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WALTON HARRISON, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

ART OF TRANSMITTING SOUNDS BY ms 0F KEBTZIAN WAVES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 2-1, 1914.

Application fled larch 11, 1902. Serial no. 97,728.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, \VAL'roiv HsamsoN, a citizen of the United States and of the State of Mississippi, residing at New York, borough of Brooklyn, State of New York, have invented a new and useful Art of Transmitting Sounds by Means of Hertzian Waves, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to the art of transmitting sounds to a distance by aid of the phenomena known as Hertzian waves.

In the practice of my art, I impress arbitrary undulations, more or less analogous to sound waves, upon the Hertzian waves, and cause the Hertzian waves, thus impressed, to traverse a distance and control the production of sounds.

No special type of mechanical device is essential to the practice of my art, but there are certain preferred forms of apparatus which may be used in connection therewith.

In the accompanying drawing I disclose a few such forms, which will be made the subject-matter of one or more additional applications for patent.

Figure 1 1s a diagrammatic plan of one of my transmitters. Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic plan of one of my receivers. Fig. 3 is a side elevation, partly in section, of said receiver and transmitter, separated by a. wall. Fig. 4 is an elevation of the mouth-piece of the transmitter.

Mounted upon a bracket 1 is a mouth-piece 2, provided with a sonorous diaphragm 3, all of which parts may be of any preferred materials. Mounted upon the diaphragm is a depending apron 4 provided with a slot 5. The parts are so arranged and adjusted that the production of sounds adjacent to the mouth-piece will cause the diaphragm and apron to vibrate, thereby causing the slot 5 to undulate back and forth in a direction at right angles to the general plane of the diaphragm.

For the purpose of producing a static discharge, a pair of polished knobs, 6, 7, mounted upon posts 8, 9, are connected by wires 10, 11, with the secondary winding 12, of a large Ruhmkorfi' coil A, which is provided with the usual primary winding 13, core 14, and circuit breaker 15, together with a switch 16, for cutting out the circuitbreaker at will. The primary winding 13 is further connected, by means of the wires 17, 18, with the primary winding 19, of a comparatively small Ruhmkorfi' coil B. When and switches 29, 30,

thus connected switches 29 and 30 should be closed and switches 34, 35, 36 and 37 should be open. The secondary winding 21 of this coil is connected by means of wires 23, 24,

with the pointed electrodes 25, 26, mounted upon the posts 27, 28. The pr mary circuits of both coils are thus placed in a common circuit, which is excited either by the battery 29, and circuit-breaker 15, or by the alternating dynamo 30, as desired. When the battery 29 is used, switches 16 and 31 are open and switch 32 1s closed. The exciting currents, whether direct or alternating, thus pass through two primary windings simultaneously and in a common direction. The primary currents should be of high frequency. B Y means of switches 34, 35, 36, 37, induction coils 38, 39, and wires 41, 42, the pointed electrodes may be shunted from the secondary circuit of the large coil A. For this purpose switches 29, 30, are opened and switches 34, 35, 36, and 37, are closed.

The inductance coils 38, 39, are for the purpose of preventing the shunt above described from diverting too much electricity from the knobs, where its effect is most needed, to the points, where a comparatively weak discharge will suflice. So, also, coil A is larger than coil B because the dicharge between the knobs is preferably far more powerful than that between the points. The pointed conductors, like the knobs, are of course adjustable relatively to each other. No matter whether the pointed conductors are energized as above described by the coil B or by the shunt from the knobs, one effect is the same, to wit, two distinct and parallel discharges occur continuously; one being a powerful discharge between the knobs, characterized by a bright spark, and the other by a comparatively short spark between the pointed electrodes. The powerful spark between the knobs is the one used in generating the Hertzian waves, which are normally propagated in the usual manner. The smaller spark is for the sole purpose of radiating ultra violet li ht upon the knobs, through the slot 5. T e apron 4 is made of mica, paper, or any other substance opaque to the ultra violet rays, so as to screen the knobs from said rays except where they pass through the slot. The action of the rays is entirely local.

A screen 43, preferably of manifold wire gauze, is provided in order to obstruct the passage of any Hertzian waves inci dentally generated by the circuit for producing the ultra violet rays, and which might otherwise interfere with the Hertzian waves produced by aid of the knobs.

The receiver shown in Figs. 2, and 3, comprises a rotary coherer 4-1, provided with trunnions 45, 46, supported in conical bearings in the screws 47, 48, mounted in the posts 49, 50. The coherer is provided with the usual wings 51 52, and is driven by clockwork 53 actuated by a weight 54. An impedance coil 55, a battery 56, and a telephone receiver 57, are connected with the coherer by means of the wires 58.

The operation of the apparatus is as follows: By manipulating switches as above described the two sparks are started. A sound is made at a point near the mouthpiece. The diaphragm and apron are thus caused to vibrate. Hertzian waves are propagated from the circuit of which the knobs form a part. The effect of the ultra violet rays (passing through the slot) and falling upon the knobs is to impair the strength of the Hertzian waves. The vibrations of the diaphragm therefore have the effect of alternately weakening and strengthening the waves, whereby the latter are impressed with undulations somewhat analogous to those of sound waves. That is to say, the alternate strengthening and weakening of the Hertzian waves is analogous to the alternatc condensations and rarefactions peculiar to sound waves. Normally, the diaphragm being still, the ultra violet light falls upon the knobs, preferably upon the lower halves thereof. The Hertzian waves are therefore normally weak. Upon each descent of the diaphragm, the ultra violet rays being partially or in extreme cases wholly thrown 03 the knobs, the Hertzian waves are strengthened more or less. Vice versa, by each ascent of the diaphragm, the Hertzian waves are weakened, the degree of strength being governed by the movements of the diaphragm. It follows, therefore, that every motion of the diaphragm, no matter what may be its character or degree, impresses its effect upon the Hertzian waves. It is essential that the several successive Hertzian wave trains follow each other with great rapidity, so that a single sound wave affects a considerable group of Hertzian waves, thus rendering the sounds more distinct at the receiving station. The oscillatory character of the sparks between the knobs need not be considered. As the source of ultra violet light is much nearer to the diaphragm than to the knobs, a comparatively minute movement of the diaphragm causes the beam or zone of light passing through the slot to sweep over a comparatively great space upon and adjacent to the knobs. The Hertzian waves are thus impressed with arbitrary undulations of variable intensity and different quality, in a manner somewhat similar to that in which a battery current is impressed by undulations from a carbon transmitter. The air or dielectric in the spark gap appears to be ionized to different degrees by the varying quantities of ultra violet light falling upon the knobs. The Hertzian waves, thus impressed, are propagated to a distance, and may traverse media such as buildings, trees, earth, etc., represented by the wall 73 in Fig. 3. When the Hertzian waves strike the coherer. they vary the resistance of the local battery circuit and cause the telephone receiver to reproduce the sound made at the transmitting station. ll'hile the spark frequency is very great, the strength, quality, etc, of the electromagnetic waves are modified by the sound waves, so that certain arbitrary groups of the Hertzian waves are thus impressed with arbitrary undulations analogous to sound waves, and having the same frequency as sound waves. The ultimate work of the transmitter current is to affect the quality of the sparks produced between the knobs, thereby governing the strength of the Hertzian waves accordingly as the sparks may, by control of the diaphragm, be

rendered comparatively useful, or use- 9 less. to employ the nomenclature of Hertz.

In practice, after the knobs are properly adjusted. the vibrations of the diaphragm do not affect the length of the spark or the frequency of the spark discharges; but they do affect the fatness of the spark. and thereby affect the conductivity of the dis tant coherer or analogous wave detector. The waves, thus impressed, readily pass through vacant space and materials of divers kinds, the latter being represented by the obstacle 73, and affect the receiver. In adjusting the knobs, I preferably make the spark gap a little shorter than the distance normally representing maximum usefulness, so as to allow for both increases and decreases in usefulness due to variations impressed upon the power of the static discharge. The ordinary telegraphic adjustment, however, will answer.

The experiments of Heinrich Hertz, described in his book entitled Electric Waves translated by D. E. Jones, chapter 4, may serve to throw more or less light upon my invention and certain portions of the apparatus above described.

To illustrate the magical control which the ultra violet rays are capable of exercising over the spark discharges, and over the Hertzian waves, I may say that when the transmitter shown in Figs. 1, 3 and 4, which I call my violet ray transmitter, is connected with a single inductorium having its secondary coil shunted as above described, the two spark gaps can be so adjusted that the descent of the dia hra completely stops the spark norma y p y-- ing between the knobs, and the ascent of said diaphragm restores this spark. I find, too, that when the pointed electrodes are so adjusted that no disruptive spark passes between them, they still emit powerful ultra violet rays; also that when the knobs alone are sparking, the descent of the diaphragm may simultaneously stop the spark between the knobs and start one between the points, whereas the ascent of the diaphragm has the contrary effect of stopping the spark between the points and starting one between the knobs. These incidents are mentioned, not as defining the normal action of the apparatus, but as indicating the complete subordination of the powerful static discharge to the gentle movements of the diaphragm. They are, in short, extreme instances showing the maximum effect of the light rays upon the spark discharges and upon the Hertzian waves. In all cases, the Hertzian waves are remarkably sensitive to the motions of the diaphragm.

The expression Hertzian waves is herein used in a broad sense, including not only the electro-magnetic phenomena discussed by Hertz, but the various modifications thereof heretofore used in wireless telegraphy, whether aerial, subterranean or submarine. I use the expression etheric waves in a still broader sense, including not only electro-magnetic waves, but all other undulatory phenomena peculiar to ether. It will be observed that, since the Hertzian waves are capable of passing through media normally impervious to sound and opaque to light, 1 can transmit speech and other sounds through such media, and that, too, with a velocity approximating that of light.

I claim- 1. The art, herein described, of transmitting sounds by means of Hertzian waves; which consists in roducing electric currents, modifying the same by means of light, causing said currents, thus modified, to govern the propagation of Hertzian waves and causing said waves to control the production of sounds at a distance.

2. The art, herein described, of transmitting sounds by means of Hertzian waves; which consists in producing electric currents, modifying the same by intermittent flashes of light, causing the currents thus modified to control the propagation of intermittent groups of Hertzian waves, and causing said Hertzian waves to control the production, at a distance, of intermittent sound vibrations.

' 3. The method, herein described, of transmitting sounds by means of electromagnetic waves; which consists in producing electromagnetic waves by aid of electric oscillations, modifying said oscillations by means of light, controlling said li ht by sound waves, and causing said el ectromagnetic waves to control the production of sounds.

4. The art, herein described, of transmitting sounds by means of electromagnetic waves; which consists in generating electromagnetic waves by aid of a circuit having a portion thereof sensitive to a radiating medium, subjecting said portion to the action of varying quantities of said radiating medium, and causing said waves to control the production of sounds at a distance.

- -5. The method, herein described, of transmitting sounds by means of electromagnetic waves; which consists in generating said waves by aid of a circuit a portion of which has a resistance changeable under the action of a radiating medium, supplying to said portion quantities of said medium varied in accordance with sound waves, and causing said waves to control the production of sounds at a distance.

6. The art, herein described, of transmitting sounds by means of Hertzian waves; which consists in generating Hertzian waves by aid of a spark discharge through a dielectric, producing ultra-violet light, causing said ultra-violet light to fall in varying quantities upon said dielectric, thereby gradually varying the power of the Hertzian waves, and causing said Hertzian waves to control the production of sounds at a distance.

7. The art, herein described, of transmitting sounds by means of Hertzian waves; which consists in generating Hertzian waves by aid of a spark discharge of constant frequency, causing varying quantities of ultraviolet light to affect the strength of said discharge, thereby varying the strength of the Hertzian waves, and causing the Hertzian waves, thus afiected, to control the proction of sounds at a distance.

ygk'slhe art, herein described, of transmitt' ounds by means of Hertzian waves; which consists in generating Hertzian waves by aid of a spark discharge of constant frequency, causing varying quantities of ultraviolet light to affect the strength of said discharge independently of the frequency thereof, thereby varying the strength of the Hertzian waves, and causing the Hertzian waves, thus affected, to control the production of sounds at a distance.

9. The art, herein described, of transmitting sounds by means of Hertzian waves; which consists in generating Hertzian waves by aid of a spark discharge of constant and comparatively high frequency, exposing said spark discharge to flashes of ultra-violet light of variable and com aratively low frequency, thus impressing t e Hertzian waves with an undulatory character analogous to that of sound waves, and causing the Hertzian waves, thus affected, to control the production of sounds at a distance.

10. The art, herein described, of transmitting sounds by means of Hertzian waves; which consists in generating Hertzian waves by aid of a spark discharge, causing ultraviolet light to fall upon said spark discharge for the purpose of varying the character thereof and thus affecting the strength of the Hertzian waves, causing sounds to control the direction of travel of said ultraviolet light relatively to said discharge, and thereby to govern the strength of the Hertzian waves, and finally causing said Hertzian waves to control the production of sounds at a distance.

11. The art. herein described, of transmitting sounds by means of Hertzian waves; which consists in generating Hertzian waves by aid of a spark discharge of high frequency, producing intermittent flashes of ultra-violet light simultaneously with said spark discharge, exposing said spark discharge to the action of varying quantities of said ultra-violet light for the purpose of momentarily impairing the strength of the Hertzian waves, and causing the Hertzian waves, thus atiected, to control the production of sounds at a distance.

12. The art. herein described, of transmitting sounds by means of Hertzian waves; which consists in generating Hertzian waves by aid of a spark discharge of high frequency, exposing said spark discharge to the action of varying quantities of soundcontrolled ultra-violet light for the purpose of varying the strength of the Hertzian waves, and causing the Hertzian waves, thus affected. to control the production of sounds at a distance.

13. The art. herein described, of transmitting sounds by means of Hertzian waves; which consists in generating Hertzian waves by aid of a spark discharge of high frequency, exposing said spark discharge to the action of ultra-violet light, causing sound vibrations to produce, in said ultra violet light. variations of comparatively low frequency, thereby impressing an arbitrary undulatory character upon said Hertzian waves, and causing said Hertzian waves, thus affected, to control the production of sounds at a distance.

14. The art. herein described, of transmitting sounds by means of Hertzian waves; which consists in generating Hertzian waves by aid of an oscillatory circuit, producing ultra-violet light by aid of a shunt circuit from said oscillatory circuit, causing said ultra-violet light to aifect said Hertzian waves, and causing said Hertzian waves, thus affected. to control the production of sounds at a distance.

15. The art, herein described, of transmitting sounds by means of electro-magnetic waves; which consists in generating said waves by aid of an oscillatory circuit, controlling the conductivity of a part of said circuit by means of light, varying the quantity of said light, and causing said electromagnetic waves to control the reproduction of said sounds at a distance.

16. The art, herein described, of transmitting sounds by means of Hertzian waves; which consists in generating Hertzian waves by aid of an oscillatory circuit, controlling the conductivity of a part of said oscillatory circuit by means of light, producing variations analogous to sound waves in the eilect of said light, and causing said Hertzian waves to control the production of sounds at a distance.

17. The art, herein described, of transmitting sounds by means of Hertzian waves; which consists in producing ultra-violet light and generating Hertzian waves by aid of electric energy from a common source, caus ing said ultra-violet light to impress a variable impairing effect upon the conductivity of the circuit roducing said Hertzian waves, and causing said Hertzian waves, thus atlected. to control the production of sounds at a distance.

18. The art, herein described, of transmitting sounds by means of Hertzian waves; which consists in enerating Hertzian waves by aid of a static ischarge, producing ultraviolet light by aid of electric energy and simultaneously with said discharge, throwing rapidly varying quantities of said ultraviolet light upon said static discharge, thereby atfecting the Hertzian waves, and cansing said Hertzian waves to control the production of sounds at a distance.

19. The art, herein described, of transmitting sounds by means of Hertzian waves: which consists in generating Hertzian waves by aid of a spark gap, producing radiant energy capable of affecting the conductivity of said spark gap, controlling the distribution of said radiant energy upon said spark gap so as to slightly vary the character thereof, and causing said Hertzian waves to control the production of sounds at a distance.

20. The art, herein described, of transmitting sounds by means of Hertzian waves; which consists of generating Hertzian waves by aid of a spark gap, producing radiant energv normally atfecting the conductivity of said spark gap, causing sound vibrations to govern the quantity of said radiant energy available for affecting said spark gap, and causing said Hertzian waves to control the production of sounds at a distance.

21. The art, herein described, of transmitting sounds by means of Hertzian waves; which consists in generating Hertzian waves by means of electric oscillations, producing radiant energy capable of affecting said oscillations, causing sound vibrations to govern the quantity of said radiant energy available for affecting said oscillations, and causing said Hertzian waves to control the production of sounds at a distance.

22. The art, herein described, of manipulating Hertzian waves for purposes of wireless communication; which consists in generating Hertzian waves by aid of an oscillatory circuit, and causing rapidly-varying quantities of ultra-violet light to atfect quantitatively the conductivity of a part of said circuit.

23. The art, herein described, of manipulating Hertzian waves for purposes of wireless communication; which consists in generating Hertzian waves by producing a series of oscillatory discharges following each other with great rapidity, causing said oscillatory discharges to be affected by ultra-violet light, and producing comparatively slow variations, analogous to sound waves, in the quantity of said ultra violet light thus afi'ecting said oscillatory discharges.

24. The art, herein described, of transmitting sounds by means of electro-magnetic waves; which consists in generating said Waves by aid of a series of oscillatory discharges following each other with great rapidity across a spark gap, shedding ultra violet light upon said spark gap, producing comparatively slow variations, analogous to sound waves, in the quantity of said light thus shed upon said spark gap, and causing said waves to control the reproduction of said sounds at a distance.

25. The art, herein described, of manipulating Hertzian waves for purposes of Wireless communication, which consists in generating Hertzian waves by aid of an oscillatory circuit, subjecting a part of said circuit to the action of a radiant medium capable of affecting the same quantitatively and causing sound vibrations to produce variations in the action of said medium upon said part of said oscillatory circuit.

26. The art, herein described, of manipulating Hertzian waves for purposes of wireless colmnunication; which consists in generating Hertzian waves by aid of an oscillatory circuit, subjecting a part of said circuit to the action of a radiant medium capable of afiecting the conductivity thereof, and causing sound vibrations to control said medium.

27. The art, herein described, of transmitting sounds by means of electro-rnagnetic waves; which consists in sending electrical impulses in rapid succession across a gap so as to produce electro-magnetic waves, directing into said gap, from a direction lateral to the path of said discharges, light capable of affecting said discharges and thus vary- -'ing the power of said waves, impressing said ;.light with variations analogous to sound iwaves, and causing said electro-magnetic waves to control the production of sounds at a distance.

In testimony whereof, I, the aforesaid VVALTON Hamusox, have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses, this lOth day of March,

WALTON HARRISON. Witnesses EVERARD BOLTON MARSHALL, CORNELIUS HURLEY.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0." 

